Improved water-wheel



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STEPHEN STENSON, OF BELOIT, WISCONSIN.

IMPRVED WATER-WHEEL. l

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40.197, dated October 6, 1863; antedated September 23, 1863.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, STEPHEN S'rENsoN, of Beloit, in Rock county, in the State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ater-Vheels; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Figure lis a plan view, with upper rim removed, the red lines showing discharge-buckets, and the blue lines showing the scroll. Fig. 2 is an' edge view of thewheel. Figs.3, 4, and 5 are plan, side, and end views ot' a discharge-bucket. Figs. (i, 7, and 8 are crosssections of the lower rim.

Similar characters refer to like parts in the several figures.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will describe its construction and operation.

This improved wheel is intended to be used 1in a scroll, T, similar to those in common use.

As is indicated by the blue lines in Fig. 1, the scroll is divided by a partition, O, into two columns or heads, so as to make the water strike the wheel at two points opposite each other at the same time.

In constructing my wheel l use from six to twenty buckets, according to the size of wheel and head and quantity of water. The size of the wheel determines the number of buckets, and the number of the buckets determines their angles to the barrel or cylinder of the wheel. The wheel represented in the drawings is calculated for a six-foot head.

A a-re the receiving-buckets, constructed as represented in the drawings, and curved concavely on their fronts, where the water first strikes, as at a.

B are the discharge-buckets. They are fastened by rivets o (see Figs. l and 3) to the lower edge of the receiving-buckets and to the under side of the lower rim.

C is the upper rim.

D is the lower rim, which serves as a guide and support to the receiving and discharge buckets. The rim is beveled, so as to facilitate the discharge ofthe water, as is shown in Fig. 1, and Figs. 6, 7, and 8, which are sections of the rim through lines s s, o 0, x w.

E is the cylinder or barrel around which the buckets are built.

In the operation of my invention the water is admitted to the wheel at two points, 1 and 2, Fig. 1, through the divided scroll T. As soon as the force of the impetus of the water striking against the receiving-buckets at a is expended, (or a little before,) the water byreaction and its own gravity rushes backward and downward out of the discharge-buckets, at a point, 3, beneath the buckets, and a little in rear of the bucket next behind the receivingbucket against which the water iirst strikes. To illustrate: As the water passes through -the divided scroll, it first strikes the wheel on the faces a of the reccivingbuckets, (marked 1 and 2,) and then discharges itselfat the points 3, below the wheel and in rear of the points l and 2, where-it first struck, by the length of one of the dischargebuckets, which is somewhat more than that of the receiving-buckets. As the waterrushes out ofthe dischargebuckets, the vertical action of gravity upon their inclined bottoms forces them forward, thus more than merely overcoming the reaction of the dead water.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The receiving-buckets A, in combination with the discharging-buckets B, when constructedand operating as herein set forth and described.

In testimony that I claim the above I hereunto set my hand.

STEPHEN STENSON.

Witnesses:

M. P. CoGswELL, 2d, I. C. BURR. 

